Minnesota Wild veteran defensemen assist in coaching rookies

Spurgeon, Stoner getting help from older defensemen

It's no coincidence the Wild have been winning more over the past two months and their defense, even with two rookies on the blue line every night, has been shutting opponents down.

The Wild routinely get excellent goaltending. But the goalie numbers plus their ranking of fifth in the Western Conference in goals allowed this season have a lot to do with a balanced defense that never wavers even when rookies Jared Spurgeon and Clayton Stoner take the ice.

The team's newest defensemen looked raw at times when they first got into the lineup this season. But 28 games into Spurgeon's NHL career and 43 games into Stoner's, the two are typically playing like veterans in their own zone.

Credit coaching and the obvious skills of the two, but hand out major assists to the veterans they're paired with.

The 5-foot-9 Spurgeon looks up to Cam Barker — literally and figuratively — and Stoner looks up to Greg Zanon. Those duos, along with Brent Burns and Nick Schultz, have become nearly interchangeable in the Minnesota zone for a team yielding only 2.6 goals a game.

That's a giant step from last season, when the Wild finished 13th in the West and ranked 11th in goals against with 2.92 per game.

Coach Todd Richards credited his team's forechecking and goaltending for some of the difference but added that "the guys in front" of the goalies have more than pulled their weight.

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The guys in front work in tandem, and that's where Barker helps out Spurgeon, 21, and Zanon helps out Stoner, who turns 26 on Saturday.

Schultz witnesses the more poised play of Spurgeon and Stoner every day.

"A big reason why we're playing well," Schultz said, "is that Spurgeon and Stoner, those guys have played extremely well."

Stoner stepped in as Zanon's partner when Marek Zidlicky went down with an injured shoulder and has become not only reliable but a physical force on the blue line.

Zanon, 30, offers advice when they're on the ice and encouragement when they're on the bench.

"We're always talking on a breakout play whether it's a good play; we'll tap each other, 'Good job,' or if it didn't pan out the way we wanted, it's like a miscommunication," Stoner said. "He's patient that way. He's probably one of the more helpful leaders on the team when it comes to young guys and making them feel comfortable. If you're frustrated about something, he'll be there and he'll tell you it's fine and work through it."

Barker, a veteran of 267 NHL games at age 24, has taken Spurgeon under his wing, inviting him to his house for dinner and to hang out. Barker says he's simply doing what Adrian Aucoin and Marty Lapointe did for him when he was a rookie with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2005.

"They really taught me about the game and the lifestyle," Barker recalled. "Those guys were phenomenal to me, and you just try to pass that along."

Schultz points out that Brad Bombardir and Willie Mitchell helped mentor him when he joined the Wild in 2001, and he likes to make himself available to younger players because it's a two-way experience.

"You try to feed off everybody regardless if you're a veteran or a rookie," Schultz said. "Everyone has strengths in their game that you can learn from."

The rookies are smart enough to keep their eyes open, watching veterans on the ice and on video.

"You try to take things from their game and implement them into yours," Spurgeon said.

Bombardir, the Wild's director of player development, said the rookie defensemen have gobbled up their lessons much as he tried to do when he broke in with the New Jersey Devils in 1997.

"The biggest thing is the habits, what it takes day in and day out, mostly with practices and trying to establish a routine where you get better every day," he said. "I learned it from Scott Stevens. After 14 years of professional hockey, he was still our hardest-working player at practice because he wanted to get better. He was so competitive.

"It goes down from veteran to young player, and then they become veterans and pass it down as well."

Said Richards: "That's how you learn."

But there's more to it than that. It's communicating and learning to trust one another, Barker said, so there's no hesitation to discuss things that come up.

"It's good for someone coming up to have someone to talk to about things, to be able to bounce what he's thinking off me," Barker said.